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Charlotte Heth

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Charlotte Anne Wilson Heth (1937-) is a North American ethno-musicologist, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She is notable for her scholarship in[1] and teaching of traditional music, dance, religious rites and ceremonies, and for her publications[2][3][4][5] and recordings.[6] She has worked to strengthen Native American studies for K-12 and has also curated exhibitions in museums. She was the director of UCLA's American Indian Studies Center. She set up the first American Indian Studies Master’s degree program.[7]

Early life

Heth was born on 29 October, 1937 in Muskogee, Oklahoma, the daughter of Eula Jewel (Seabolt) Wilson and Woodrow Curt.[8] She started learning the piano at age six.[9]  She went to Will Rogers High School in Tulsa Oklahoma, a school named after William Penn Adair Rogers, an American actor and a Cherokee citizen born in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory which is now part of Oklahoma. Heth graduated in the class of 1955 and was inducted into their hall of fame in 2016.[10][1]

Education and career

Continuing her early interest in music, Heth directed several church youth choirs in Tulsa. Heth gained a Bachelor’s degree in 1959 with a minor in English and then a Master’s degree in music in 1960 from the University of Tulsa. From 1960, Heth worked as a teacher of English and music in New Mexico and Oklahoma before joining the Peace Corps to volunteer in Ethiopia in 1962 along with Cynthia Tse Kimberlin.[9]

In 1964, she moved to Los Angeles County and taught Music and English for six years. Heth was interested in African music at that time. On searching, she but discovered that little was published on Cherokee music. The few pages she found were about the music of North Carolina and published by Gerturde Kurath. To rectify this, in 1971, Heth started field work in Oklahoma. Heth gained a PhD in Music (Ethnomusicology) from UCLA in 1975. In 1973, Heth set up a ten-week survey course on comparative American Indian music at UCLA. Over her time at UCLA, Heth was an assistant, associate, then full professor and professor emerita.[11] She gave graduate seminars on Contemporary American Indian issues and Cultural World Views of Native America until she retired.[10]

Heth was director of UCLA's American Indian Studies Center from 1977 to 1978 and of the American Indian Program at Cornell University Ithaca from 1987 to 1989.[12] She was a panel member folk arts at the National Endowment for the Arts from 1980 to1982.

1990 to 1992, Heth was chair of UCLA's Department of Ethnomusicology and Systematic Musicology. 1993 to 1995, Heth was also president of the American Folklore Society (AFS), a sister organization of the Society for Ethnomusicology. Heth retired from UCLA in 1994 to become assistant director for public programs at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. She was also visiting curator at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix.[10] 

Heth was invited to be a visiting professor of music at several universities including Cornell University, University College-Berkeley, University of Wisconsin, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, University of Colorado,[13] University of West Virginia, and Utah State University.

Selected publications

The Stomp Dance Music of the Oklahoma Cherokee: A study of contemporary practice with special reference to the Illinois district council ground (Vols. I and II). University of California, Los Angeles ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. 1975. 7522628.[14][15]

Sharing a Heritage: American Indian Arts (Contemporary American Indian Issues Ser.) (Contemporary American Indian Issues Series) American Indian Studies Center: 1984 ISBN 9780935626001

Edward Wapp, Jr. "The American Indian Courting Flute: Revitalization and Change”  Sharing a Heritage: American Indian Arts, Edited by Charlotte Heth and Michael Swarm. Contemporary American Indian Issues Series, Number 5. Los Angeles: American Indian Studies Center, UCLA: 49–60. 1984

Issues for the Future of American Indians Studies: A Needs Assessment and Program Directory by Guyette, Susan; Heth, Charlotte American Indian Studies Center. 1985 ISBN 9780935626292.[16]

Native American dance: Ceremonies and Social Traditions Charlotte Heth, general editor 1992. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the National Museum of the American Indian 1992 to 1993. Dance Books ISBN 978-1563730207.[17]

Heth contributed an Overview in The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Volume 3. pp. 366–373. 2000

Heth and Karen Taborn contributed Seminole Music to The Grove Dictionary of American Music. 2nd ed. AmeriGrove. 2013 Ed. Charles Hiroshi Garrett.

Selected recordings

Heth produced Songs and Dances of the Eastern Indians from Medicine Spring and Allegeny in 1985.[18]  Also for New World Records, she produced Songs of Earth, Water, Fire and Sky.[19][20]

Heth co-produced the 1994 Smithsonian Folkways album Creation’s Journey: Native American Music.

Memberships

Member of the Western Social Science Association, National Indian Education Association, American Society of Ethnohistory, American Folklore Society, and the Society for Ethnomusicology Will Rogers(council member 1977-1984, council chairman 1980-1982), Sigma Alpha Iota.[8]

Awards

Postdoctoral fellowship, Southern Fellowship Fund, 1978-1979, Senior Postdoctoral fellowship, Newberry Library., Chicago, 1978-1979, National Research Council, 1984-1985.

In December 2022, Heth received an American Folklore Society Lifetime Scholarly Achievement Award for her sustained work “examining and affirming the diversity of human creativity” and “advocating for respect and mutual understanding of the world’s diverse cultures.” [7]

Legacy

Dr. Heth has enabled generations of scholars, as well as Native artists and community members, to appreciate the complexities and nuances of Native American music, dance, and cultural ceremonies.[21] Her depth of understanding, and first-hand knowledge has informed her curated exhibits at the Smithsonian Institute and Musical Instrument Museum of Phoenix, and her leading role from 1994-1999 as Assistant Director for Public Programs at the National Museum of the American Indian.

References

  1. ^ "Social Dances of the Lenape and Other North-Eastern Indian Tribes". Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  2. ^ Heth, Charlotte (1976). "The Mosquito Dance". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 54 (4): 519–524.
  3. ^ "Powwow Songs - Music of the Plains Indians". store.arcmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  4. ^ "Native American Music Traditions of Oklahoma. Songs of Indian Territory". www.ressources-mcm.com. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  5. ^ "Books by Charlotte Heth (Author of Native American Dance)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  6. ^ "Creation's Journey: Native American Music". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  7. ^ a b Society, American Folklore (2022-12-12). "Charlotte Wilson Heth Receives AFS Lifetime Scholarly Achievement Award". The American Folklore Society. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  8. ^ a b "Prabook Charlotte Anne Heth". World Biographical Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  9. ^ a b Levine, Victoria Lindsay (June 2013). "Ethnomusicologists x Ethnomusicologists" (PDF). SEM Newsletter (47/3 ed.). pp. 1, 6. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  10. ^ a b c "Charlotte Wilson Heth '55 – WRHS Community Foundation". Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  11. ^ "Charlotte Heth | Ethnomusicology Review". ethnomusicologyreview.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  12. ^ "History | American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program". cals.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  13. ^ "First Distinguished Lectureship on Music, Diversity and Inclusion hosts Native American music scholar". College of Music. 2018-01-30. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  14. ^ "Browse Collections - Ethnomusicology: Global Field Recordings - Adam Matthew Digital". www.ethnomusicology.amdigital.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  15. ^ "The stomp dance music of the Oklahoma Cherokee : a study of contemporary practice with special reference to the Illinois District Council Ground | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  16. ^ www.chaparralbooks.com https://www.chaparralbooks.com/blocked. Retrieved 2024-10-21. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. ^ Institution, Smithsonian. "Native American dance : ceremonies and social traditions / Charlotte Heth, general editor". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  18. ^ "Songs and Dances of the Eastern Indians from Medicine Spring & Allegany". New World Records. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  19. ^ "Charlotte Heth | Ethnomusicology Review". ethnomusicologyreview.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  20. ^ "Songs of Earth, Water, Fire and Sky". New World Records. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  21. ^ "Summer@Eastman 2020: THE UNBROKEN CIRCLE Native American Song and Dance Workshop". Eastman School of Music. 2020-01-16. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
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